EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: An Unexpected Estate Sale in Beverly, Massachusetts

Saturday, June 21, 2014

An Unexpected Estate Sale in Beverly, Massachusetts

This morning I woke up in anticipation of exploring a new flea market that I had never visited in Revere, Massachusetts just off Route 1 a few miles north of Boston. Unfortunately, the flea market was a bit of a disappointment seeing that is was not the typical type of flea market that I am accustomed to today: however, I decided to take a bit of a detour on my ride home, where I visited some of the yard sales, which were scheduled to take place in Beverly, Massachusetts. Fortunately, I had thought ahead and I brought my local newspaper, which had all of the Cape Ann, Massachusetts yard sale listings for the day.

After about an hour and six-or-so yard sales later, I decided to call it quits for the morning; however I noticed two road signs, while driving north through Beverly en route to my home in Newburyport, Massachusetts.

According to the colorful signs, there was an estate sale nearby in Beverly that was scheduled to begin in less-than twenty-minutes. I figured "what-the-heck," so I drove to the sale a few blocks away. I was actually surprised when I saw a line of people waiting to get in. Naturally, I had to stop and check it out. All of the roadside signs stated that the estate sale began promptly at 9:00 am.

But I realized when I began to approach the driveway and the nineteenth century house, where the estate sale was held that it had already begun despite my phone saying it was still a few minutes before 9:00 am. The company holding the estate sale was taking people in by numbers based on the time that they had arrived earlier in the morning.

I walked up to the man standing near the checkout table in the paved driveway, who was running the sale and asked for a number - he handed me a piece of paper with the number 44 written on it in marker. As I walked away, the man yelled loudly, "…Numbers 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29 can come in." Five minutes or so passed and he yelled again, "…Numbers 30, 31, 32, 33 and 34 can come in." I would say that another five minutes probably passed and he yelled yet, again, "…We're gonna take a few more people - numbers 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42 and 43."

I was next in line - I anxiously awaited to hear my number yelled. Although, in the meantime I couldn't help and notice what people were buying as they made piles directly in front of me near the checkout table of what they had discovered. This was all definitely exciting; however, none of what I saw so far piqued my interest. But everything was definitely old.

While waiting, I asked the man running the estate sale the history of the property and the contents, and he told me that they had belonged to a 90-year-old couple, who lived in the home for decades. He said they first bought the house in the 1940s and they had raised their children in it. He also mentioned that they were antique collectors, who purchased their collection locally. But he also said the family was now liquidating the contents in various stages - this aspect of the estate sale sold the garden accessories, outdoor and utilitarian pottery, porch furnishings and the contents of the garage. The man told me that they were still in the process of determining what to do with the rest of the collection, which remained in the house; although, I assume that most of it will probably remain with family members.

My time had finally come. It was 9:17am when I heard my number yelled, "…Numbers 44, 45, 46, 47 and 48 can come in."

I walked in and quickly saw a number of antique wooden bird houses near the side of the house, which were nice, but nothing that I had to own. I walked directly into the garage first, where I found what might be an early-to-mid-twentieth century red earthenware bird house from Maryland; otherwise, I would say it was made in Georgia.

From there, I began to walk around the house to the backyard, where I was surprised to see dozens of pieces of pottery scattered throughout the yard. A number of the objects also appeared to have been locally made in either Beverly, Massachusetts or Peabody, Massachusetts in the late-nineteenth or early-twentieth century.

I quickly grabbed everything that I felt was made locally. I also assume that these objects had been acquired by the homeowners when they first purchased the property in the 1940s or 1950s, which may indicate that they were found within their original context of local ownership.

Note: I also found a nineteenth century red earthenware animal feeder at this estate sale, which I believe was made locally in Essex County, Massachusetts. This is a subject that I have been studying; whereas, I believe this type of local production would be lost today if it were not for these objects still remaining in these type of contexts. I believe this animal feeder would be attributed to another location today if it were found without a known history.

Estate Sale in Beverly, Mass.